My Two Cents in preparing for the exam based on how my exam was like:1. Know/Understand a) when to use/refer which document/plan. b) when to update which document/plan. c) when to issue a CR and when not to. d) difference between each project document, each process, each tool & technique (Ex: Risk audit vs Risk reassessment) etc .. e) all quality tools. f) all ITTOs2. Read the question completely, before looking at the answer choices. I generously used Highlight and cross-out features in the Pro-metric system. 3. Do not mark up too many questions for reviewing later, since you may not have much time for reviewing all and might miss out on important ones. (a mistake I did). Although I had 40 minutes left after my first round, I could not finish reviewing at least half of the questions that I marked up. 4. Prepare your mind to see completely different type questions on your real exam, than what you have seen on your mock exams. 5. You may find yourself trying to choose one best option out of two, as both the options seem correct. 6. Some questions/options are not very clear (to me).7. Up to five EVM questions that did not need a calculator, 2 EVM questions that needed a calculator, one EVM question that I had no idea what was being asked to calculate (so I made my best guess and moved on)8. Two network diagram questions, I had to draw out network diagrams (which took a few min) but was asked to calculate float for an activity on critical path. That is why read out the question completely before you go about solving the network diagram. 9. Tons of questions on Communications, Stakeholders, Risks, Project team. 10. The lengthiest questions on my test were about 4-5 sentences long, with the situation described in first paragraph, and a single line question in the second paragraph. 11. Few 1-2 line questions which were direct.

My test was at 8am, my local test center opens at 7am, so I was told I can come-in at 7am to start the check-in process. I started my test at about 7:30am.Before the exam I was told by the staff that no writing is allowed on the sheets during tutorial, I was not planning on brain dumping anyway. I was given 4 sheets. I asked for a calculator and was given one. I used their noise canceling head phones (which helped me to concentrate).

My Study:

I started my PMP preparation about 5 months back. Went through Saket's videos, studied PMBOK and Rita once, completed lesson end tests from Quampus and Rita. Then I submitted my application and it was picked for audit. After I submitted my audit documents, unfortunately, it was rejected, then I had to redo my application all over again and go through the audit process again (Of all my PMP journey, this was the hardest part. I was under a lot a pressure at that time, with other personal & professional issues, and this application rejection added to it). Finally my application was accepted (on Jan 3rd), however about 45 days went by during this process, without me concentrating on the study and worrying about the application.

I scheduled my test date (March 1st), then I started studying PMBOK and Rita again, this time I tried to skim through them quickly. This took 25 days.

30 days to the test date (from Jan 29th), I started doing full length mock exams. After each mock test, I reviewed all the questions (both correct and incorrect ones). This gave me a chance to go through PMBOK again.

I also did few other mock exams where I scored about 85% and completed in 3hrs 30 mins.

Praizion's videos on Youtube helped me a lot and also their Savage on Saturday sessions.

All this study helped me kill the PMP exam. Not to mention the support I received from Izenbridge team and also Kavitha, Achintya and Kainat (from my study group) for keeping me motivated during this journey. Lessons Learned from Ajay helped me build confidence.

Please feel free to contact me if anyone has any questions. Apologies for the long post, tried to keep it short but I couldn't stop myself from talking in my head